What are some alternatives to mutexes for concurrency control?

What are some alternatives to mutexes for concurrency control?

There are several alternatives to mutexes, such as semaphores, read-write locks, and lock-free data structures. Each has its own use cases.

Can you explain how semaphores work?

Sure! Semaphores are signaling mechanisms that control access to a shared resource by maintaining a count. They can be binary or counting.

What are read-write locks and when should I use them?

Read-write locks allow multiple readers or one writer at a time. They're useful when you have more read operations than write operations.

Are there any performance considerations with these alternatives?

Yes, performance can vary based on the workload. Mutexes can lead to contention, while alternatives like lock-free structures can reduce overhead.

Can you give an example of a lock-free data structure?

An example of a lock-free data structure is a concurrent queue, which allows multiple threads to enqueue and dequeue items without locks.